The performance of an HR team is something that is often overlooked by inexperienced SMB owners. Still, the tasks that your HR performs are often of vital importance for the overall function of your company and they are in direct correlation with your performance. Therefore, by embracing some of the latest HR trends, you can give your company as a whole a significant boost. Most of these trends have something to do with improving policies and practices, as well as saving the time of your HR department and allowing them to focus on the bigger picture rather than being drowned in menial tasks.
#1 The words not to use
While it may be true that the offense cannot be given, it can only be taken, there are some words with enough power to significantly harm certain social relations. According to a Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (a famous principle of linguistic relativity), words affect the way we see the world. Therefore, traditional HR terms, such as human capital, work contingent or talent might contribute to the image of depersonalization of a modern workplace. Not only that, but they can also kill the morale of the employees, should they be used in their presence by the HR representatives or managers. Either way, these are the words that should not be used in an office in 2018.
#2 HR specialists are gaining momentum
Instead of just hiring HR representatives and assigning them positions within the department, you could actually have a spot reserved for them while hiring. For instance, when looking for someone to assume the spot at the helm of training and development, you might look for someone with previous experience in this field. The same goes for other tasks such as compensation and benefits, and HRIS (human resources information system) analysis. Apart from making your HR more efficient, it also makes the division of labor quite easy, seeing as how everyone knows their core-tasks by default.
#3 The automation of HR
The next thing you need to keep in mind is the fact that HR departments are currently shrinking in size. In fact, nowadays, a single HR representative is expected to do the work of an entire department. How is this possible? Well, with the help of HR software and downloadable HR templates. Instead of having to compose your own documentation and policy templates, your HR representatives can now look for them online, inspect them, download them and then customize them templates to fit your company’s profile.
#4 Quality of hire comes first
Bringing skilled, trained and talented people into your employ can be a complicated, expensive and demanding process. Nonetheless, by recognizing a person who can grow into an industry powerhouse, you can generate a great ROI, no matter how much effort or resources you spend to bring them in. Therefore, your first hiring priority needs to be the quality of hire, instead of focusing on short-term cost-effectiveness.
#5 Evaluation of employee performance is crucial for productivity
At the moment, you may notice that about 10 percent of your employees do 50 percent of work but as your company grows, this ratio will not remain the same. You see, competence grows linearly, while the incompetence grows exponentially. What this means is that not recognizing the top-performers within your organization and losing them due to your negligence may have a catastrophic effect on your productivity. According to the economics of productivity, the square root of the total number of people employed in your company does half the work. It is vital for your success that your HR knows exactly who these people are.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, implementing these HR trends is not an easy job, yet, it is necessary for your company’s current performance, as well as its functioning in the long run. Once you start scaling, things will get much more complicated, which is why it is in your best interest to implement these trends and get accustomed to them as soon as possible. Furthermore, it would be wise to allow your HR department to independently follow updates on some of these trends, without always having to ask senior management for permission.
Dan Radak
Dan Radak is a marketing professional with eleven years of experience. He is a coauthor on several websites and a regular contributor to BizzMark Blog. Currently, he is working with a number of companies in the field of digital marketing, closely collaborating with a couple of e-commerce companies.